I suggest a campaign about ...

Free Naked Rambler Stephen Gough now- 10 yrs in prison for refusing to put clothes on is a travesty

A campaign to free this man who has been held in prison, in solitary confinement, almost continuously since 2006. The Police arrest for "Breach of Peace"- he is taken to Court and he states it is his right to be nude (there is no law that states you cannot be nude)- the Court say he is in contempt of Court and sentence him to maximum penalty. He is released, he comes out naked and the police wait outside to arrest him, he goes back to Court, who find him in contempt etc etc....This madness needs to be stopped. At £40,000 a year plus it is complete a waste of tax payers money. But most importantly there is no law that says he can't be nude.

I have no interest in issues of lifestyle naturism or nudity but this is one of the most outrageous abuses of judicial process I have ever heard about in the UK. Shame, shame, shame on teh scottish authorities.

I'm confused about the English people being twitchy about nakedness. Don't they run a photo of a naked woman on page three of one of their papers every day? Oh, I see nakedness is okay when it's associated with sex, but not if it's about freedom. Oh, well.

i dont know the background to this case. english people are very twitchy about nakedness. you rarely see a naked person in the media ( whereas in france you do) perhaps english people in general need to grow up. 10 yrs does seem absurd.

Yes there is a group campaigning to try to free him, but activity there has fallen off a cliff edge: http://www.facebook.com/groups/freestephengough/ . There is also a survey which you might like to promote in order to find out what the public think about the situation: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S35DVZV - don't tell anyone which side you're on though, because it's honest replies that are wanted. Ask all your Facebook friends to fill it in as a favour to you. Tell them that it's a single page with 8 questions which can be answered in 60 seconds and that there's no logging in or any other complications. The survey is new and it's proving to be hard to get anyone to click on links to it, so any help you can give in that regard would be very much appreciated.

Yes there is a group campaigning to try to free him, but activity there has fallen off a cliff edge: http://www.facebook.com/groups/freestephengough/ . There is also a survey which you might like to promote in order to find out what the public think about the situation: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S35DVZV - don't tell anyone which side you're on though, because it's honest replies that are wanted. Ask all your Facebook friends to fill it in as a favour to you. Tell them that it's a single page with 8 questions which can be answered in 60 seconds and that there's no logging in or any other complications.

What tha!,and he's in solitary.This world is so politically correct it's wrong.So we have murders,theifs and muggers on the bloody streets.So we a person with no human civil rights because he won't wear clothes.I am speachless,shakeing my head,in disbelief.F%ck me,hear everything now.The courts are so out of date,and a law to themselves.

It is shocking how Stephen Gough has been treated. People commit worse crimes and receive a lesser sentence than this. There should be some give and take on both sides here and he should not be in prison. Perhaps he should go where he can live his life the way he wants and out of the limelight.

why punish someone so harshly under a breach of process issue for doing what he is allowed to do in law when true offenders against society are allowed to walk free. The courts should be held accountable for this breach of human rights.

What has happened to Steven Gough is absolutely out of proportion to the "harm" he has caused. Murderers spend less time inside. When he is released it is the prison staff that allege offense not genuine members of the public. In reality it is the prison itself that is putting him back inside. I suppose it keeps the warders in a job. Personally I find the burka infinitely more offensive than nudity ever could be.

I do believe that the next time he is released the police have decided that they will take him somewhere to the borders with England and there let him go to wander naked in a country that is a bit more sensible about simple nakedness! I have read something to this effect from a senior police officer. If that is the case lets hope he wont wander back into scotland, a country who's leader wants independence from UK yet who doesn't want to take its share of the debt its own bank caused,says a lot about those inc the judiciary running the country.

This man clearly is not seeing the big picture. If the case was dropped then potenially millions of people would feel justified in not wearing clothes. What about the clothing and fashion industries? With the need for clothing reduced they would collapse. What about the revenue generated for the legal profession as they prolong this farce?

There not being a law about something has never stopped people being jailed for it even if only on some other pretence.

On the other hand:

Why not just jail the people who keep prosecuting him for wasting police time and the whole thing will be forgotten in a few months.

And in reponse to another poster here: If this guy is some kind of pervert would not his intent be immediately evident?

No one asked anyone to look at him, so respect his privacy.

It's his body after all if he wants to expose it to the elements it's his choice.

Outrageous abuse of judicial power and a clear waste of our money. The scottish court presents itself as a medieval middle-eastern country, immature, educationally backward and full of rightuous puritanical idiots wielding big sticks on little people.